Yashmin Harun Gets British Empire Medal in New Year Honors

A British Muslim woman has been recognized with a British Empire Medal in the New Year Honors list, Evening Express reported.

She was honored by her remarkable vision of creating “safe spaces” for fellow Muslim women to join sports

“The environment is really important,” Yashmin Harun, who set up the Muslimah Sports Association in 2014, told the PA news agency.

“With the hall space, we want to make sure there is no gallery and no access for men to come in during the time that we hire the hall so that the caretakers and the school premises know that at that time no men are allowed to access the hall because the ladies take off their hijabs and play.

“It’s open to all women, it’s not just for Muslim women, but we make sure that it’s a female-only environment – we hire female coaches.”

Launched five years ago, the Muslimah Sports Association (MSA) has been working to empower young sportive Muslim women, as well as overcome cultural barriers and funding problems.

Harun estimates that around 200 women attend every week across the sports, in a major shift from before.

“We used the local mosque’s sports hall but we just weren’t getting the women in – they didn’t think football was for them, they thought it was a men’s game,” she recalled.

“But once we got the qualified females that we wanted from the BAME community, and they could see that women like them were coaches, that’s when the numbers started to increase.

“Numbers were growing each week, from three to five to 25 to 30 each week. It was about persuading the community and getting people to take the time out, that they could have that time for themselves and not just for the family or for work.”

Muslims Honored

Harun is not the only Muslim to be included in the New Year Honors this year.

Ibrahim Yousaf, known as ‘Ibby’, was awarded BEM in recognition of his efforts to raise thousands of pounds for charity.

Being named for the award, Ibby, only 13, became the youngest to be recognized with New Year Honors.

Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, 35, was awarded an MBE for her services to cookery, four years after winning the baking competition.

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